trustworthykebab

WT, I use OpenTrack with a TrackHat. I have a profile that I use globally, it surely isn't the best out there. Very sensible, works like a charm on the IL-2 Series but it ain't the best here. I'm not good at modifying profiles. I can share it here if you want, otherwise I'll gladly take in other people's suggestions.

Great stories, folk! Updates on Ailbe coming soon as well. Albrecht, I need you to tell me your secrets for those wonderful edited pictures!

Thank you Epower, I didn’t know that!

For some reason unable to edit this, but it's actually a B.I, not a B.II!

EOM Stats: Feldwebel Lyuben Anastas Mladenov (Deceased) Unit: Feldflieger-Abteilung 32, Bertincourt, Flanders. Aircraft: Aviatik B.II Hours: 15 Missions flown: 11 Victories: 1 Claims: 0 (KIA during the same sortie, victory backed up by his squadron mates) Feldwebel Ailbe Blaz Dziarzowitz Unit: Feldflieger-Abteilung 5, Haubourdin, Flanders. Aircraft: Aviatik C.I Hours: 0.75 Missions flown: 1 Victories: 0 Claims: 0

Written in advance for I won't have time tomorrow 02/10/1915 Feldwebel Ailbe Blaz Dziarzowitz Haubourdin, Flanders. France FA 5 Lb 0 confirmed kills I took the past week to work on the ground and with testing my machine. I took my chance of putting my town's colours on the machine. Everything's too pale here in my opinion. We were supposed to take off over our lines yesterday, but the day was terrible. So we took a chance today. We're mostly equipped with Aviatiks, both B and C variants (I was lucky enough to get a C!), and Rittmeister Johann Marach (classy chap, by the way) has the luck to fly one of those amazing new Eindeckers. I took off at 11:15pm with him, although we went on our separate ways. I was assigned Oberleutnant Findeisen. The flight was smooth as the butter I spread on the bread in the morning, and we were able to see some good pictures. We were even able to capture some hostile machinery moving towards our lines on one of the roads that were not destroyed. I've even managed to snatch a couple compliments from the Rittmeister.

The tale of Ailbe Blaz Dziarzowitz Ailbe was born May 14th, 1893, from a relatively wealthy Jewish family in Stettin. His father owned a drug store, where he used to spend all the time he wasn't at school. Very quickly, though, he found out about his newly developed love: air machinery. They used to spend their summers on the countryside, near a newly founded aerodrome from where mystical machines made of canvas and wood used to take swift flights up in the air. When he was 17, he managed to befriend the son of one of the few lucky owners of such mechanical wonders, and it was right in that crate where he took his..."Maiden flight". As any could expect, it did not end well at all: the machine didn't leave the ground, instead crashing into one of the hangar doors much to the displeasure of the rightful owner, who was unaware of his son's friend's passion. Luckily the damage wasn't serious, and Ailbe got off with just a big, fat, slap on his face. In 1913, as fears of a new conflict rose behind the horizon, Ailbe decided to fulfill his forbidden love and to enlist in the Luftstreitkrafte. He hadn't finished his training when World War I began, and although he showed admirable flying skills, was deemed ready for deployment at the beginning of 1915. Unfortunately for him, he'd have to wait until October of the same year as he was hit with a rather violent bronchitis who struck him in bed for a good amount of time. He was called, towards the beginning of September to Haubourdin, Flanders, as he was going to operate within the newly formed Feldflieger-Abteilung 5.

Seb, thanks for the kind words. He died doing what he loved, and saving his friends in doing so. I must apologize for such a rushed report, but have little free time on average! I want to let y'all know that I'm always catching up with the rest of the adventures!

August 1915 catch-up While eager to finally get back in the skies, Mladenov's career got a rather unlucky turn for the month. On his second flight, in the first half of august, his machine suffered an engine malfunction which almost resulted fatal to him and his observer. As they were approaching Bertincourt for landing, oil splatted onto their glasses, as the engine began rumbling. First a few puffs of black smoke, which quickly turned into fire, were now attacking the crate. As the observer was quick in pulling out his Broomhandle just in case, they were able to crash land a few yards away from the aerodrome. Neither of them suffered significant injuries. But it was not all, as the wonder-pair began to notice a couple new enemy birds lifting up in the air, both French and English. A new English biplane, with a weirdly-set Lewis machine gun on its side, made its appearence over Flanders. Mladenov's machine was victim of the strike of two of the aggressive enemies, which dived on a strafe while Lyuben was patrolling the frontline airspace. They seem to still be rather shy, those Englishmen, as they immediately retreated after the first, damaging but not lethal attack. September 1915 catch-up He flew his first September mission on the 4th. He, as much as his Kameraden, were getting more skeptic everyday, as the increase of enemy armed machines was evergrowing. On a solo sortie along the frontline heading South, the Bulgarian was struck by a French scout. The machine seemed nimble, extremely light, and lethally armed with a Lewis machinegun. Lyuben immediately went for friendly lines, but the stubborn enemy wasn't convinced. He kept on following him. At that point Mladenov decided to pull one of the riskiest manouveres he had ever done. He put his nose down, towards the ground, gaining significant speed. As the Paulie began diving onto him, Lyuben immediately pulled its nose up, getting in a stall. This overwhelmed the Frenchman, who didn't have time to react, therefore losing significant control of his aircraft and losing a significant amount of altitude. As a barrage of friendly AA began landing around the two wooden crates, the French decided to call the day, and went back for his lines. The 6th, Mladenov woke up with a strange feeling. He felt something was off, like it was the day something significant would happen. And something significant happened indeed. Top brass called for an unusual 5-men missions above Albert, BEL. Just as expected, they encountered two French scouts right above the city. Everybody immediately turned back for their lines. The Bulgarian had made significant ground and was at a safe distance, but he realized his Kameraden were in the thich of AA and enemy aircraft fire. He wasn't going to stay and watch. He immediately veered back, straight towards the scouts. He was indeed able to set them off with such an unexpected move. The machine he was facing immediately pulled down, diving away, as the other one immediately went for his buddy right next to Lyuben. Enough experience had teached Mladenov that the landing gear of the Aviatik were...Quite resistant. He made a heavy pull to the left, on a direct collision-course with the Paulie...He had hoped he would hit the crate with the gear, but unfortunately his wing went in the way first. He realized it too late, and him and the French collided directly. The two aircraft were now one, heading directly towards the ground. Mladenov's observer died on the impact with the enemy plane, while both pilots were still alive. While falling off the ground, the two enemies looked at each other. While in the absolute and surreal silence of the air, the Frenchman looked desperate: it was clear he was absolutely ashamed of dying that way (but after all, that's what he had signed for, right?). He made the sign of the cross and then put the revolver in his mouth. Bang Mladenov wasn't going to die with such shame in his body. He felt complete. He had allowed his Kameraden to make it back to base. He pulled out the Mauser, and took a shot to his head. He was later found by British men on the ground, and was later buried with full military honours, and with 1 credited kill in his tally. He was going to be remembered as a hero by FFA 32. P.S. I did forget to fill in the claim for the bird, but I figured that such an ending would make it more romantic.. I'd kindly request a new input for my new entry from the CM, either British or German, I don't mind!

Gents, I must apologize for my prolonged absence, but school's been catching up pretty quickly. Mladenov's July was mostly delegated to ground work and test flights for the other folk, but he looks forward to get back up in the air by August.

During the break before DID began I did practice my aerial ramming...We'll see if it works as intended!

I reinstalled WOFF as planned, updates soon!

Rick, if the observer finds you annoying enough, he might just accidentally pull the trigger as well...

epower, thanks for the heads up. Sorry to say everyone, but as I wrote back at SimHQ I had a mishap with the WOFF Toolbox which accidentally deleted my main WOFF install instead of the extra one I had in my external drive...I'm gonna have to reinstall the game again. I have a pilots back up from a while ago, just before the end of the last DID campaign. Sorry y'all, will get back up and running ASAP.

Feldwebel Lyuben Anastas Mladenov Feldflieger-Abteilung 32, Bertincourt, Flanders 01/06/1915 0 confirmed kills So this is France. I've been riding the train the whole night, and I finally arrived to the aerodrome. I've been introduced to our Hauptmann, Kurt Seidler, and to who was going to become the observer for my machine, Emil Kuegler. They all seem like good fellers, even if the mood is a bit cold. I took a tour in the hangars, and came to the sight of this wonderful machine, an Aviatik. It's nothing like those flemsy paper machines I flew in flight school. Got to meet my mechanic, a certain Ruben Speißberg, a trustworthy chap. In the afternoon I took the crate for a test flight circling Bertincourt, and I must say - It is quite the bird. Looking forward to put what I learned to test tomorrow. Feldwebel Lyuben Anastas Mladenov Feldflieger-Abteilung 32, Bertincourt, Flanders 02/06/1915 0 confirmed kills Today I had my first sortie. Seidler, as Schwarmfuhrer, and me as his wingman. He was going to take some pictures of the enemy frontline, as high command is currently working on a mosaic map of the current AO. We took off at around 8:25AM, the air was fizzy, the sun was shining, a gentle breeze was striking my face as me and Kuegler put the wheels off the ground. I'm not exactly sure what to expect from the Britons, but we saw no enemy machines for the whole duration of the flight. The view from up there was majestic: we were able to see an artillery barrage in all of its might. We stood up there for a couple of hours, then came back home to have some well deserved beer.

I assume we’ll use this one like we did in DID III.

First Post This is the tale of a not-so-young Bulgarian man, Lyuben Anastas Mladenov. Born in the now far 1881 in Radomir, Bulgaria, he moved to Dresden at the age of 3. As the war was becomeing clearer and clearer, in 1914, he believed that he'd move back to the then neutral Bulgaria, to go back to his roots and the rest of his large family. Just a few months prior to his departure, though, something awakened in him. He had spent all of his life, until then, as a humble shoemaker. He wanted to give a twist to his life, he wanted adventure, adrenaline. Given his already mature age (33) he wasn't striving to join the army, so he opted to get his life onto the path of that new trend they called aviation: he was going to become a pilot. He enlisted in early 1914 and finished his training at the beginning of 1915. Enlisted with the rank of Feldwebel, he recieved a letter a couple of months later: he was to report at his nearest aerodrome. He was going to be deployed at the front, alongside Feldflieger-Abteilung 32.

I have a question regarding a mod which is not mentioned in the instructions. I usually use the third party missions mod (which I can't recall the name of as of now :/) that offer a bit more realistic missions (such as introducing lone wolf recce missions as it usually was back then). Should I, for the sake of linearity, disable these and just limit myself to the base game ones?

Carrick, to my knowledge all DID will be held here.

Oh. Lordy. It IS that time of the year! Couldn't ask for a better early Christmas present.

If anybody ever decided to do something like that, I'm available for moderation/managing of part of the Discord server.